MISSISSIPPI LEGISLATURE REGULAR SESSION 2010
By: Senator(s) Blount, Tollison, Dawkins, To: Rules Burton, Butler, Davis, Dearing, Fillingane, Frazier, Hopson, Jackson (11th), Jackson (32nd), Stone
SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION NO. 640
1 A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION MOURNING THE LOSS AND COMMENDING THE 2 LITERARY LEGACY OF MISSISSIPPI AUTHOR BARRY HANNAH. 3 WHEREAS, Barry Hannah, one of Mississippi's most respected 4 authors over the past four decades, who was awarded the 5 PEN/Malamud Award for short fiction, passed away in Oxford, 6 Mississippi, on March 1, 2010, at age 67; and 7 WHEREAS, Mr. Hannah was an admired American writer and 8 teacher, who populated his novels and short fiction with humor,
9 dark themes and painted portraits of complex, rebellious 10 southerners; and 11 WHEREAS, Hannah was born in Meridian, Mississippi, and grew 12 up in Clinton, Mississippi. He graduated from Mississippi College 13 in 1964 and earned a Master of Fine Arts from the University of 14 Arkansas, taught writing at the University of Mississippi and also 15 served as writer-in-residence at colleges in Iowa, Montana and 16 Vermont; and
17 WHEREAS, "He was unquestionably one of our state's greatest 18 writers," said Richard Howorth, a longtime friend of Hannah's and 19 owner of Oxford's Square Books. "I'd be willing to wager that his
20 books, his stories in particular, are read in creative writing 21 classes at universities around the country more than any other 22 writer's"; and 23 WHEREAS, Mississippi writer Richard Ford stated that Barry 24 Hannah "incongruously but absolutely legitimately wowed and amazed
25 you with his celestial-quality literary sentences and 26 constructions that could've come from no other brain but his, and 27 that you never forgot. Many people have had the experience of S. C. R. No. 640 *SS02/R1433.1* N1/2 10/SS02/R1433.1 PAGE 1 28 Barry's stories and novels, changing their lives forever. I think 29 that's precisely what he aimed for"; and 30 WHEREAS, his first novel, Geronimo Rex, was published in 1972 31 and went on to acclaim, including winning the William Faulkner 32 prize for writing and being nominated for a National Book Award. 33 His books earned him the Arnold Gingrich Award, a Guggenheim, the
34 Robert Penn Warren Lifetime Achievement Award, a Mississippi 35 Governor's Award for Excellence in the Arts, and membership in the 36 American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters; and 37 WHEREAS, with nine novels and four collections of short 38 stories to his credit, Hannah established himself as one of the 39 nation's most vital contemporary authors. He was an award-winning 40 writer and Director of the University of Mississippi's Creative 41 Writing Master of Fine Arts Program, and was set to be honored at
42 the upcoming Oxford Conference for the Book (March 4-6, 2010). As 43 Director of the University of Mississippi's Creative Writing 44 Master of Fine Arts Program, Hannah carried the fire for young 45 writers who needed encouragement and inspiration. His enthusiasm 46 for good writing, his insatiable curiosity and his generous 47 support spread to his students as they sought to find their own 48 voices and influences; and 49 WHEREAS, Barry Hannah deserves to be mentioned among the
50 greats of American literature. Writer Larry McMurtry has called 51 Hannah "the best fiction writer to appear in the South since 52 Flannery O'Connor." Writer Justin Taylor stated that Barry Hannah 53 was "sentence for sentence, among the most powerful, innovative 54 and - this is important - fun writers of the present era"; and 55 WHEREAS, "He played an important role in introducing Southern 56 literature to postmodernism at a time when Southern writing was 57 trying to live up to and move beyond the great achievements of the 58 modernist Southern Renaissance authors, especially William
59 Faulkner," according to Martyn Bone, the Editor of Perspectives on 60 Barry Hannah. "He was able to play fast and loose with Southern S. C. R. No. 640 *SS02/R1433.1* 10/SS02/R1433.1 PAGE 2 61 literary tradition and its subject matter in a way that some other 62 writers were not"; and 63 WHEREAS, he loved his native Mississippi, saying "There's a 64 world of kindness and tenderness that surrounds me and my friends 65 in this little Town of Oxford, and I would be a liar if I left it 66 out"; and
67 WHEREAS, he is survived by his wife, Susan, and three 68 children, and it is with sadness that we note the passing of this 69 Mississippi author whose refreshing language could make the 70 English sentence "generous and unpredictable" and who brought 71 great honor to his community and to the State of Mississippi: 72 NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE SENATE OF THE STATE OF 73 MISSISSIPPI, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES CONCURRING THEREIN, That 74 we do hereby mourn the loss and commend the literary legacy of
75 Mississippi Author Barry Hannah and extend our sympathy to his 76 surviving family on his passing. 77 BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That this resolution be presented to 78 the surviving family of Barry Hannah, forwarded to the Creative 79 Writing Program at the University of Mississippi, Square Books and 80 made available to the Capitol Press Corps.
S. C. R. No. 640 *SS02/R1433.1* 10/SS02/R1433.1 ST: Mourn the loss and commend the literary PAGE 3 legacy of Mississippi author Barry Hannah.